Adolf Hitler

Rise of power:

• Fought in WWI and awarded for bravery: but not promoted, disillusioned with Army, Weimar Republic who signed the armistice è thought victory was denied because of Marxists, Jews
• Joined Nazi party- became head, Paramilitary organization, SA created under the partyè gained popular support because promised action in contrast to Weimar gov’t
• Beer Hall Putsch, 1923: ultimately failed, Hitler jailed- wrote Mein Kampf, martyrdom, gained support, unifies party
  • Decided to go through legal, governmental political procedures to get power, means not ends
• Mein Kampf: Jews, communists stabbed in back, selective amnesia in population as regards what really had happened to end the war, very demagogic, lebensraum, Slavic inferiority, propaganda
• Used cult of personality portrayed self as God figure in propaganda
• 1928 elections: general swing to the right, didn’t vote much for Nazis because they focused more on socialism aspects in early years, preferred monarchy or military dictatorship
• Stresemann’s death: removed powerful voice in support of republic, socialist split, political center disappearedè crumbling support for Weimar
• Pol./econ instability increased with Wall Street Crash: German econ had been failing already before Depression hit, but really got bad

• Factors in rise of Hitler:
  • General trend in European politics
  • Monarchy abdicates
  • Army is restricted
  • Luck
  • Context of situation
    • Mussolini’s example of fascism
    • WWI and Treaty of Versailles resentment
    • Communism, threat
    • Great Depression
    • Death of Stresemann
    • Ruhr thorn

• Appointed Chancellor under president Hindenburg: thought he would be puppet, they could control himè royalists preferred Hitler and his racist ideas to another, powers were limited at first
• Since he had more direct access to media and could use what powers he had to control his opposition, demanded immediate elections increase power of Nazis in Reichstag: able to suspend personal liberties, further his position because of attempted fire at Reichstag (blamed on communists, actually just a crazy guy)
  • Able to exploit what he had: media control, weak opposition
• Used Stormtroopers to consolidate/take over the individual German states: “terrorist revolutionary movement”è killed off SA eventually: please army to support him because he was opposed to radicalism, revolution was not a permanent condition
• Used Real Politik: example- Churches, worked with them at first, then infiltrated Nazi policy, but were still main place where opposition could grow
• Not very much successful internal opposition to Hitler, too powerful, threat of violence, was successful in policies: better econ (although was on the mend when he came to power, just took credit for it), Germany got more power in Europe: until war when Germany began to loseè racial policies came back to haunt him, went too far, Barabarossa

Hitler's Economic policies, 1933-39: ' Was Germany economic policies a success ?'

• Hitler's main aim --> to prepare Germany for a war by producing weapons + defense economy ' to use all ger. resources to prepare a war of imprial conquest.

o To achieve that:

Ø Persuade ger. Pop. To accept the need of war.

Ø Training ger. Youth to become a good socialist.

Ø Purging ger. Society of people opposed to war.

· His economic influence mainly from ger. Experience of 1ww.

o He learned that:

Ø Ger. People must be entering the nest war united behind fuhrer.

Ø Ger. Economy mustn’t ruined by Britain naval blockade.

Ø Ger. Must use time to become self-sufficient as possible and decrease her independence on overseas trade.

Ø Regime must maintain living standard.

· His priority to decrease unemployment = 6 million jobless, 1933 due to great depression.

o Solution: Hitler appointed Schacht as president of reichsbank

Ø He release money to fund state projects to get people into work i.e. autobahnen, railway, bridge, canals and land improving schemes.

Aims of Hitler’s foreign policies:
· Smash Versailles: unfair towards Germany
· Unite all Germans and purify the Aryan race
· Find lebensraum in the East for Aryans

Historiography

o Intentionalists: Hugh Trevor-Roper, Hilgruber- Mein Kampf, Second Book, Hossbach Memorandum, doctrines had universal implicationsè wanted war: expansionist, militaristic views, only way to attain foreign policy goals

o Revisionists (Structuralists): AJP Taylor, Mommsen- “day dreaming”, opportunist, hadn’t planned for full-on war in 1939 (envisaged it in ’43), policies were responses to specific developments, no shape/spontaneous, main policies were only expression of general feeling of the time/dynamic momentum

o Synthesis: Allan Bullock, Ian Kershaw- had goals and knew how he wanted to implement them but used circumstances/situations to his advantageè good politics, lucky, but had to have some type of overall plan, “fanatical and cynical”, became a victim of his own myth of infallibility

o Dictator:
§ Traditional: Rich, Bracher- omnipotent, made all decisions
§ Revisionist: Mommsen- unwilling to take initiative, let others make decisions
§ Synthesis: Kershaw- key activator, policy is reflection of his vision, mobilizer, legitimator or policies but does not initiate manyè to maintain image as infallible leader should something go wrong